The last day... November 1, 2009

So, sleep was more like a nap. I woke up at 3am this morning for a 3:45am cab. At 3:35 I got a knock on the door from Ryan saying the cab was here. Of course I wasn’t ready ten minutes early, so I rushed to get dressed and grab my belongings. I hope I didn’t forget anything. We got to the airport at 4am only to discover the check-in counter wasn’t open yet. It didn’t open until 4:45am. At least I know to not get there so early next week. We took off from Leipzig to Frankfurt and that’s where I said goodbye to the remaining group members that were heading back to Houston. I caught a plane to Istanbul where I will be meeting Brian in a few hours.

Happy Halloween! October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween! Today I separated from the group again. I started the day by heading to the William memorial which is a church that was bombed in WWII. In remembrance, they never rebuilt the church and is now just the ruins.

Afterwards I wandered the Kufurstendamm shopping area and also made a stop at KaDeWe, which is Germany’s largest department store.

From there I headed to the GDR museum. It didn’t really look like anything especially extraordinary to me. Basically it just looked like stuff from the 60s.

After the museum, I took a quick tour of the Berlin Dom Cathedral.

After that I headed back to our hotel for our 2:45pm departure. Since I arrived early, I looked in a few more shops and found some stuff I liked. Once our group was complete (about 45 minutes later), we dropped off Dena at the train station and then headed to Leipzig. At the hotel in Leipzig, we had dinner, rearranged our suitcases, and went to sleep.

October 30, 2009

Today we left Hof and headed by van to Berlin. Upon arrival, Dena, Ryan and I walked past the Reichstag, through the Brandenburg Gate, and over to the Jewish Memorial.

From there I went my own way and accidentally ended up at the Hamburger Banhof Museum für Gegenwart where I ran into Ryan and Dena twice.

Since it was fate, we left together. I once again separated from the pack and went to the Museum für Naturkunde. My favorite find there was a familiar fossil from Texas.

From there I headed to one of the shopping districts and checked out Gallerie Lafayette, the French department store. I also had a delicious chili hot chocolate. I continued down the street and happened upon a MINI Cooper shop. There was a MINI on the wall and it said “Checkpoint MINI.”

I went inside and browsed all the MINI gear. I then continued down the street to Checkpoint Charlie and met up with Dena, Deanea, and Ryan.

We went to see some of the Berlin Wall, hug a Berlin Bear and then we ate dinner at Cancun Café.

I had nachos! After dinner we took the S-bahn to our hotel.

October 29, 2009

Today our first stop was at Fernwehpark. This is a spot in Hof with signs from all over the world. Right away I spotted Austin City Limits, Arlington, and other familiar spots. After more careful observation I also found gems like Sacramento Way, Palm Beach, and Alf (as in the alien).

It was kind of random, but nice to see a little piece of home. From there we went to see a collection of drawing by Reinhart at the Gallery Theresienstein. The highlight was a champagne toast at the end of the tour, complete with exploding champagne all before noon. After that we wandered around some botanical gardens and then stopped for lunch at a castle.  We had a home cooked meal with the family.  From there we went to Bad Steben which is known for its health spa. We first toured a gallery and then went to the spa. Our first offer was to use the saunas. I couldn't think of anything worse. Since we were all sore tired and sore, a massage was mentioned as an alternative option. I was a little shocked to discover co-ed dressing rooms, but at least there were private dressing closets. A couple members of the group tried out the sauna, which ended up being clothing optional and co-ed. Yikes! I steered clear of that area. Unfortunately, the massage didn't really turn out to be much of a massage. The massage therapist used no pressure at all and basically just wiped some massage oil on my back. It definitely wasn't what I was hoping for but at least I got to rest and relax for 30 minutes. We had dinner at the spa restaurant. That night we were invited to a party at the Film Festival we had been to the previous night, but the girls were all to tired to go and just asked to be driven home. The only problem was that our driver didn't know where we were staying and I guess expected us to be able to give him directions. Of course we had no idea and he refused to call someone to ask. Instead he drove us back to the film festival and asked someone there where to take us. So, instead of getting home at a decent hour, we were home late as usual.

October 28, 2009

I was really missing Wyatt on my trip, so I had make friends with other dogs during the trip.  I was staying with this dog, who reminds me of a dog we used to watch named Rufus.  I think this dog's name was Tessa.

But, I really wish I was staying with the dog that belonged to Dena's host family.  His name is Bach.

After my dog interactions, we met at one factory that makes fabric and got random fabric samples.  Then we met at another steel factory only because the president of the company is from the United States.  He had a puppy that Ryan and I wanted to play with, but he put the puppy away and made us look at his factory.  After that we ended up at a castle. 

Rumor was that the girls would be staying there.  I thought that was unlikey as we toured the castle, but eventually we went through a tunnel that lead to the guesthouses at the castle.  Dena and I were roommates again.  After lunch we went to the Deutsch-Deutsches Museum Modlareuth.  It was a city divided in half by a wall to separate East and West Germany.  It was interesting to see how a wall could be put up right in the middle of a town.  Now you can see some remainders of the wall, the watch towers, and the attack/guard dog runs and hutches. 

That night we went to the Hof Film Festival, which is actually pretty famous after some freetime for shopping.  I thought for sure I would fall asleep, but the films were excellent. 

The first film we saw was a short.  It was great, but I didn't get the name.  The main film we saw was called "Nothing Personal."  It was about a woman who ends up working for a man at his house in a deserted area of Ireland.  She explains that she doesn't want to get to know him and share nothing personal.  The question is, who will give in first.  To my surprise, the director was in the audience with us.  At the end she basically asked what we thought.  It was a little overwhelming to comment on someone's work, so I think most people kept quiet... except for Ryan.

October 27, 2009

This morning we went to Rehau to meet with a famous concrete artist, Eugen Gomringer. 

It turns out we had two concrete artists in the same room that day!  For lunch, we met with the Hof Rotary club.  I chose the beef roulade knowing full well that I would have to discard the inards and just eat the beef until I discovered the inside was full of mustard.  UGH!  Another less than desirable meal for the records.  From there we went to Bayreuth which was a nice city. 

It was bigger than Hof and Plauen, so I was extra excited to be there.  We went to the opera house (Markgrafliches Opernhaus) which was beautiful. 

They gave a great presentation about it, with cool lighting effects. 

After that we had some hot chocolate and dessert.  From there we walked to the Wagner museum and toured his former home. 

I liked how he had his dog burried next to him. 

That night we had Italian food for dinner.  I was excited to find Gnocchi alla Sorrentina on the menu, but it's never the same as what I had in Sorrento.

October 26, 2009

Once again we changed homes again. This time our home was near Hof and I was staying with Deanea at this home. We each had our own room upstairs.

The weird thing is, we never quite caught the names of the people we were staying with. They didn’t seem to speak a whole lot of English, they had never been to the United States, and we pretty much had nothing in common with them. Needless to say, it was a bit awkward spending time with them. Anyway, the day started off with a tour of Lamilux, which is a factory that makes plastic for caravans and skylights.

It wasn’t exactly the most interesting tour we had been on. Noodle alert! Following that tour we went to Rehau and met the mayor, had a tour of the museum at the rathaus and then went to lunch. I order a zwibelkuchen, but it was much more of an onion quiche than an onion tarte. Ryan ended up eating mine. Luckily ordered some really good potato soup too. After lunch we went to the porcelain museum for Rosenthal.

It was a pretty good tour. After that we had free time at an outlet mall, or more like a warehouse. It was pretty random and basically a waste of time. Dinner was another let down. It was a pre-ordered spread of weird meats including raw ground beef with a raw egg over it.

I ate some bread and a little cheese and a piece of ham. Sigh.

October 25, 2009

Today we all got in a van and headed to Prague. When we first arrived we went to the Charles Bridge, which was even more packed with tourists than when I was last there four years ago.

Sadly, the crowds have taken away from some of the charm of Prague. After crossing the bridge, Ryan, Dena and I went to the Old Town Hall to watch the astronomical clock.

We also visited the Church of Our Lady. From there we met back up with the group after purchasing Czech glass beads. I went to McDonald’s for lunch and on my way back to the meeting point found some delicious drinking chocolate. As a group we headed to Prague Castle and I was thrilled to tour the cathedral again.

After a bit of free time, we headed back to Plauen. On the way we stopped for dinner at this casino/restaurant. To my surprise and delight, the entire floor of the restaurant was a fish tank. The whole dining experience was kind of strange since our host disappeared for about 45 minutes and as usual we were so tired, but the fish below my feet made everything better.

October 24, 2009

Today we took the train to Plauen. We had a tour of the lace museum, a walking tour of the town, and then lunch.

At lunch I tried a new food item, which is called bambes. It can be served with meat or it can be served sweet. I got the sweet one, which had applesauce, powdered sugar, and sliced apples on top of something similar to a hash brown patty.

I thought it was kind of a weird combination but I gave it a try and really liked it. From there we all heading to a ski jump called Vogtland Arena that can be used year round.

We took a cart that took us to the top of the jump.

It was an unexpected place to visit but it was also kind of fun. From there we went to a place in the mountains for hot chocolate and cake. I was thoroughly exhausted and full after this. Once I got to my host family’s house I discovered I was going to a formal dinner at Deanea’s hosts’ house since they didn’t speak English. It was the last thing I wanted to do, but I made the best of it and actually had a pretty good time. Back at my host family’s house, my favorite thing there was the heated floor tile they had. It was delightful!

October 23, 2009

This is a lost day.  I can't remember what happened.  I will have to look into this...

October 18, 2009 - MUNICH!

Today was a major highlight of the trip for me. We took a train to Munich for a free day. Upon arrival, I decided to abandon the group and do my own thing. With only about five hours, I decided the best way to see the city was with a hop on/hop off bus tour. My first stop was the museum district. I visited both the Neuen Pinakothek and the Modern museum.

I enjoyed them both. From there I got back on the bus and ended up in the theatre district which also had a lot of high fashion shops, so I did some window shopping along there. My next main stop was at a church that I really enjoyed called Theatinerkirche St. Kajetan. It was extremely ornate in the Rococo style.

My next stop was in the town square which had a great clock.

From there I walked along the shopping district but sadly all the stores were closed since it was Sunday. At one point I could see four H&M stores at the same time but I couldn’t get them all in the same shot.

I also visited a toy museum, but that was kind of a let down. Otherwise, I had a fabulous day in Munich and would definitely recommend it to anyone. That evening we took the train back to Regensburg. In spite of our sleep deprivation, we went to a jazz show that night by the jazz orchestra of Regensburg. It was really good, but I could have appreciated it more had I been awake.